Page 16 of Hunted By Wolves and Shadow
I could still feel his body pressing down on mine, and when he crossed the rug to approach me, I caught another whiff of that woodsy vetiver smell that brought me back to the way his arm had covered my face. In another scenario, it could’ve been protective.
He was too close.
His head tilted as he leaned over me. “Plus, look at you. As much as a witch-to-be can ever be innocent, you have that look about you. You don’t want death magic. I bet you catch spiders in your house and set them free.”
“What is that supposed to mean? Of course, I free them. They haven't done anything wrong.”
He shook his head. “What am I supposed to do with you?”
Chapter 7
Wolf
Defiance blazed in every outburst from Emi’s lips, but no matter how much she denied it, she was a witch. Sure, she was scared too, but the way she couldn’t stop herself from challenging me was almost admirable.
She set her jaw and glared. “You’re not doing anything with me. Now how, exactly, would I manage to wish you dead? Because I'd like that very much.”
I continued to ignore the shine of righteous indignation in her eyes. She wasn’t fooling me. She knew more than she pretended. She had to.
But,blue skies, the confusion behind her anger looked startlingly genuine. And if she truly didn’t have her magic…
No, I wasn’t falling for her act. “That wasn't a serious question, was it?”
“Which part? That I want you dead? Or that I could magically wish for it to come true? Because the first one is one hundred percent real.” She wasn’t faking her snarl.
If she hadn't claimed her magic yet, then she absolutely could wish me dead. Easy as breathing. Everyone knew gemstonewitches claimed their magic with a wish. Or at least, I thought everyone knew that.
No, of course she knew. Emi wasn't just anyone. She was the infamous Ruby Witch’s granddaughter. Her green hood was a perfect twin of the scarlet one hanging beside the door. That swish of red fabric had struck terror through every one of us in Aglonbriar forest with each sighting, always fearing what Ruby might do next.
Would Emi—no,Emerald—do the same in her glorious green. Would the new color of fear be emerald green instead of ruby red?
“You're scared of it, aren't you?” I guessed.
She blinked, the defensive anger slipping. “Scared?”
The way her eyes darted to the door before settling back on me, it seemed the thing she was still most scared of was me. Which was a good thing, I reminded myself. That meant I stayed alive longer, so I definitely shouldn't be having a weird urge to reassure her.
I'd been told my grin could be terrifying. Hawk and Robin once spent a whole afternoon bugging me about how it was my teeth that did it. "No wonder you’re single,” Hawk had said while Robin giggled beside him. “It's honestly creepy, Wolf, and I say that with love," she’d teased. My canines were a little…toothier than most, even as a man. So I smiled, drawing on my memory of the version that made Robin shudder that day.
Emi shrank. “I’m not scared.”
“Sure you're not, witchling. You're the one with the power here, after all,” I said archly. “One little wish. That's all it would take. But you're not gonna do that, are you? You wish me dead, and then what? Imagine what death magic would cost. Everyone you love? Everything you touch dies? Wouldn't want that. You'd be alone the rest of your life because all you can do is kill. Yeah,I thought Ruby's curse magic was bad, but that…No matter how much you hate me, lil’ ol’ me isn’t worth that.”
She shook her head. At first, I thought she was in agreement, that maybe I'd scared her enough that she wouldn't consider it.
Then she said, “I have no idea what you're talking about.”
I stared. Where was the lie in her face? I was good at reading people. The enclave depended on that ability, because I could tell the ones who were going to turn from the ones we could save—or whatever you wanted to call the cursed half-life we lived.
But everything about Emi, from her bright eyes to her parted lips and the tension in her neck, to the energy barely contained in her ready posture, said that she really didn't know what I was talking about.
“That's not possible,” I whispered, more to myself than to her.
My time to contemplate was up because she launched from her seat, grabbing the fire poker while I was still dazed by her utterly impossible lack of knowledge. Fortunately, you didn't survive in Aglonbriar forest without developing incredible reflexes. My body twisted away from the blackened metal. She was fast but not skilled, and it was nothing to duck under her sloppy attack. I came up beside her, grasped her arm and twisted it down, smashing her wrist against my thigh. It brought a satisfying clatter of iron falling to the floor. This time I didn’t let go.
I was willing to live as a murderer to end the curse, but I didn’t want to kill again unless I had to. Emi screamed and cussed as I turned her around and dropped her onto the plush carpet, pinning her wrist behind her back to hold her down.
This was ridiculous. While we struggled, there was still Mist curling up to the stone wall outside. There were still haunting sounds of beasts in the woods beyond these doors.
